Live Performances
"Mysterious Ways" made its live debut on 29 February 1992 in Lakeland, Florida on the opening night of the Zoo TV Tour, and it was subsequently played at every show on the tour. Zoo TV performances of the song featured a belly dancer on-stage, who would tempt Bono and The Edge. The 1992 indoor legs featured Florida resident Christina Petro as the dancer. Tour choreographer Morleigh Steinberg assumed the role starting with the Outside Broadcast leg; Steinberg began dating The Edge during the tour, and the two married in 2002. During performances, the Zoo TV video screens displayed revolving images of Marilyn Monroe's head with tape over it. Performances from this tour were extended beyond the length of the original studio version of the song, with a slide guitar solo after the point in the song where the studio version ends, and a longer introduction that included a piano interlude by The Edge. Both the added intro and outro featured additional lyrics by Bono, much of which were sung in falsetto.
The group continued playing "Mysterious Ways" on their following concert tour, 1997's PopMart Tour, performing it at each of the tour's 93 shows. On 2001's Elevation Tour, the song was excluded from some shows but was still performed at the majority of concerts. Over the next two tours, the Vertigo and U2 360° Tours, performances of the song became less common. The band also stopped playing an extended slide guitar solo at the end of the song during the U2 360° Tour, with the song finishing with an extended version of the album outro. The extended introduction to the song was removed for the Vertigo and 360° Tours. However, as the 360° Tour continued, "Mysterious Ways" once again became a setlist staple.
Read more about this topic: Mysterious Ways (song)
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